Re: XyWrite to Word

["Patricia M. Godfrey" PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx]

Thomas J Hawley wrote:
> Unfortunately XyWrite is sinking fast, and one day soon will no longer be
> usable on readily available platforms.


I don't know. PCs last a LOT longer than the "planned obsolescence"
tyrants would have you think. I have two K6/2s still running strong, not
to mention 2 P1 laptops and a desktop. So so long as there is some way
(network connection, flash drive, CD, even floppy) to move files between
them, one could keep using Xy on an older machine. And surely skilled
craftsmen don't discard a good, elegant, useful tool for a shoddy,
sleazy one?


> The new open file formats, which might be described as highly complex

> ascii and which will appear in Word 12 when it is released next year,

I'm NOT holding my breath. We've heard this before. And did you see the
great Open Document Format carfuffle up in Boston a month or so ago?
They'll be "open" if MicroSquelch can control them. Not otherwise. (See

http://www.groklaw.net/
& there scroll down about a page to
ODF/MS
in column 1. Click on that for the whole Groklaw record. Then
look for 2005 EVENTS CHRONOLOGICALLY in bold face; thanks to Wendell
Cochran for calling this to my attention.)

Robert Holmgren wrote:

> > Creating a Word command line is easy;
> > the problem is, then what? The only commands that you could issue that Word
> > would inherently understand would be VBA commands, and they are wicked hard to
> > remember, plus VERY longwinded.

Just a thought, but perhaps something like Harry's XyBasic in reverse: a
compiler that would translate XPL-type commands to VBA? That's if you
HAVE to use Weird.

Thomas J Hawley wrote:
> You don't want to "convert" say the XyWrite IP command so that you can indent
> paragraphs in Word; if you did, you'd be applying direct formatting which
> should almost never be used and will eventually cause untold frustration if it
> is (a rule presently known to only a tiny fraction of one percent of Word
> users).


Actually, you really shouldn't directly embed formatting in ANY word
processor, Xy included. But it does far less harm in Xy. Even there, US
is the way to do things if you have to format to any degree. Ironically,
of course, US is infinitely easier in Xy than in WP, where to use your
own styles, you have to use a whole slew of styles that Big Brother
Corel thinks you need. Have never tried it in Weird, but would expect
even worse.


Patricia M. Godfrey
priscamg@eskimocom